Hollywood Gadfly
I try to go where the facts lead me, no matter what. I love movies and books, and am curious about how cultural trends make them better or worse.
| Platform |  | Pricing | Freemium | Publishes | Weekly |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Issues | 11 | Founded | 8 months ago | Last Issue | 20 days ago |
| Active | |||||
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The Luxury Film MFA Ends Today
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Years after I graduated from film school a former student emailed me. He was suing the school for fraud, trying to get his hefty student loans discharged, and he was looking for a copy of a report we'd both seen at a f...
Survival of the Richest: The BIPOC Problem
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While I was working on my Annenberg Ouroboros Piece, about USC’s strange annual study of the top 100 grossing directors, a startling fact emerged.
Among the women who directed 2025's 100 top-grossing films, there wer...
Obsession Doesn’t Prove the System Is Rigged
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As some of you have probably figured out by now, I suffer from Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), which is part of why I have such a hard time letting things go, including, perhaps ironicall...
The Annenberg Ouroboros
The ouroboros is an ancient symbol depicting a serpent eating its own tail. It symbolizes infinity.
During the inevitable backlash to my unexpectedly viral Chloé Zhao piece, several people indignantly pointed me to the UCLA Hollywood Dive...
"Can We Make the Villain a White Guy?"
Anticipation and Uncertainty
A feature film or television series has at its core only a handful of key parts.
- The Protagonist - the person who the central problem, “agon,” or struggle happens to, and who succeeds or fails at s...
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Authors
The writers behind this newsletter.
Puncturing Hollywood myths.
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